Being able to install GNOME Shell in Ubuntu Oneiric is exciting. And as we experienced in our earlier review of GNOME Shell in Ubuntu 11.10, GNOME Shell has come a long since its first release and now is a very stable, fast and usable shell for GNOME. To further improve the functionality, GNOME Shell has extensions support. Though these are very early stages, there are quite a number of really good GNOME Shell extensions already.

Install GNOME Tweak Tool First

Before getting started, you need to install GNOME Tweak Toolwhich is an excellent application for managing GNOME Shell extensions. This tool has many other functionalities and can even be used for managing GNOME Shell themes. To install it, just search for 'GNOME Tweak Tool' in Ubuntu Software Center OR click the following link.

Displays CPU and Memory usage graphs while in overlay mode. Graphs are fine, but I still prefer numerical displays like we saw with Sysmonitor Application Indicator for Unity.

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-system-monitor

Done. SystemMonitor GNOME Shell Extension is successfully installed.

Apps Menu GNOME Shell Extension

Old school Applications Menu for GNOME Shell.

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-apps-menu

Done. Apps Menu GNOME Shell Extension is successfully installed.

Places Menu GNOME Shell Extension

A simple Places Menu for GNOME Shell, love its simplicity.

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-places-menu

Done. Places Menu GNOME Shell Extension is successfully installed.

User-Theme GNOME Shell Extension

Though good quality GNOME Shell themes are available in large number already, the installation process is not so straight forward. User-Theme GNOME Shell extension lets you change GNOME Shell themes directly using GNOME Tweak Tool.

Lets you use classic Alt+Tab (window-based instead of app-based) in GNOME Shell. It has options for showing window thumbnails as well. A little buggy though.

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-alternate-tab

Done. Alternate Tab GNOME Shell extension is successfully installed.

How to Enable Installed GNOME Shell Extensions?

Many of you might be wondering why the installed GNOME Shell extensions are not showing up in your Ubuntu 11.10 yet. First of all, after installing the extensions you like, you need to log out and log back in again(OR hit ALT+F2 and type 'r').

Now, launch GNOME Tweak Tool(which we recommended at the start of this post).

Select Shell Extensions from left sidebar, you will see all your favorite GNOME Shell extensions right there. ON or OFF the extensions as you wish(User-Theme extension is an exception here, you have to close and open GNOME Tweak Tool after enabling the extension for it to work properly).

Remove all Extensions in One Stroke

If you find yourself in any sort of trouble after installing GNOME Shell extensions from above, you can remove them all in one stroke. Just do the following in Terminal.

sudo apt-get remove gnome-shell-extensions-*

Remember, this will remove all packages in your system whose filename starts with "gnome-shell-extensions-". So be careful.

Conversely, you can install all the GNOME Shell extensions available in one go by using the term "install" instead of "remove"(without quotes) in the above command. Do it at your own risk though. Some of these extensions are not very stable and could cause serious harm. You have been warned. Big thanks to lffl blog for the PPA.